1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a passenger discriminating apparatus, and more particularly, to a passenger discriminating apparatus for deciding whether an airbag has to be deployed and a degree in which the airbag is deployed according to the type of an occupant on a vehicle seat when the vehicle collides.
2. Discussion of Related Art
An airbag device is adapted to protect passengers within a vehicle by absorbing physical shock occurring when the vehicle collides by employing the elasticity of an airbag cushion portion. This airbag device can be classified into a driver's seat airbag device, a passenger seat airbag device, a side airbag device, and so on.
As the gas is introduced to the airbag cushion portion when the vehicle collides, the airbag cushion portion is deployed at high speed in order to protect the passengers. At this time, an infant or a person who has a small body weight can be injured by shock caused by the deployment of the airbag cushion portion. It is therefore necessary to decide whether to deploy the airbag cushion portion by taking the weight of a passenger into consideration. In this connection, in the North American region, additional criteria for limiting the deployment of the airbag cushion portion according to the weight of an occupant on a vehicle seat, which is measured under various conditions, has been legalized. Accordingly, airbag device manufacturers must be ready for means capable of fulfilling these criteria in order to improve the performance of their airbag devices and export them to the North American region.
To this end, in the prior art, four or more load sensors are installed at the vehicle seat in order to measure the weight of an occupant on the vehicle seat according to a seating state of the occupant, compare the sum of weights measured in the four load sensors with a reference value, and decide whether to deploy an airbag cushion portion based on the comparison result. However, if the number of the load sensors is increased, there are problems in that the price of a passenger discriminating apparatus rises and the price competitiveness is lowered. Although an attempt has been made to solve the problems, the results thereof are insignificant due to the technical difficulties.